Batting

Fayetteville, N.C. – The Morehead City Marlins (26-10) took possesion of first place in the East Division after routing the Fayetteville SwampDogs (18-19) by a final score of 10-2 at J.P. Riddle Stadium on Wednesday night.

The offense got rolling in the top of the third inning when Alex Pimentel (Southwestern Oklahoma) pulled a triple through the left side of the infield and then stole second. Colin Allman (Newberry College) notched a grounder to the right side to move Pimentel to third. Danton Hyman (Newberry College) singled to right field to score Pimentel as the first run of the game.

Joe Mason (Pitt CC) was then hit by a pitch for third time this season. Brendan Dougherty (Bradley University) reached on a field error from the SwampDogs first baseman that score Hyman and Mason. Hunter Shepherd (Catawba College) and Will Johnson (Eastern Kentucky) each drew walks to load the bases for the Marlins. Craig Lewis's (Seton Hill) then sent a fly ball to centerfield that allowed Dougherty to tag and score. Catcher Chaston Gordon (Pfeiffer University) then pulled a single down the line that brought home Shepherd to give Morehead City a 5-0 lead.

Octavio Mirabal (King University) made his seventh start of the summer and pitched into the fifth inning. The senior struck out six batters, only allowing one walk and two runs.

The SwampDogs used a pair of lead off hits in the bottom of the third to put one run back on the board, making it a 5-1 advantage for the Marlins.

Ashton Raines (Bloomsburg University) improved to 3-1 on the mound this summer after taking over for Mirabal in the fifth. Raines kept Fayetteville off the scoreboard, facing five hitters and recording two strikeouts.

To begin the top of the sixth inning Lewis blasted his first homerun over the right field wall and off the scoreboard to extend the Marlins lead to extend the Morehead City lead to 6-2.

Dougherty started a rally in the top of the ninth with his first extra-base hit off of a left-handed pitcher and fourth double this summer. Three consecutive walks from the SwampDogs pitching staff scored Dougherty to give the Marlins a 7-2 lead. Pimentel's fly ball to right field to bring home Shepherd. Allman then took a pitch to right-center that was misread allowing him to knock his first triple of the season that cleaned the bases and pushed the lead to eight, 10-2 Marlins.

Brandon Marklund (Bryan College) threw two frames in his team-most 15th appearance. The senior faced just seven batters in the two innings.

Team Records: Morehead City (26-10), Fayetteville (18-19)

News & Notes:

Morehead City improves to 26-10 overall and 13-5 record on the road, remaining in first place of the CPL and in the East division.

Morehead City improves to 21-0 when leading after the seventh inning.

When scoring 10+ runs Morehead City is now 3-0

Morehead City is 8-0 against the SwampDogs

Up Next:

Morehead City head to Wilmington on Thursday for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch against the Sharks at Legion Stadium.